Sudan says UAE complicit in Darfur ‘genocide’

Sudan urged judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday to issue emergency orders to force the United Arab Emirates to stop supporting paramilitaries in Darfur, to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people.

The UAE denies supporting the rebels and has dismissed Sudan’s case.

Since cases before the ICJ can take years to resolve, the court allows countries to request emergency orders, meant to stop ongoing atrocities during a conflict.

Khartoum brought the legal case before the ICJ, accusing the UAE of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been battling the Sudanese army since 2023. 

Sudan has been consumed by the deadly conflict that started in mid-April 2023, when tensions between its military and paramilitary rebels broke out.

Both the RSFs and Sudan’s military have been accused of human rights abuses.

According to the UN, the war has killed more than 24,000 people and displaced over 14 million people from their homes.

Sudan demands ‘full reparations’

The ICJ hearing comes a day after the US and Saudi Arabia called on the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces to resume peace talks to end the country’s conflict.

“The direct logistical and other support that the UAE has provided and continues to provide to the RSF has been and continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide now taking place, including killing, rape, forced displacement and looting,” said Muawia Osman, Sudan’s acting justice minister.

Sudan has demanded the UAE pay “full reparations,” including compensation to victims of the war.

UAE calls on ICJ to drop case

Top UAE foreign ministry official Reem Ketait told the court that Sudan’s claims “could not be further from the truth.”

The UAE has repeatedly dismissed the ICJ filing, saying the court has no legal power to hear Sudan’s claim and asking the judges to throw out the case.

“It is clear beyond doubt that there is no jurisdiction. We therefore call upon the court to remove the case from the general list,” Ketait told the court.

The UAE has told the judges that the case represented “the most recent iteration of the applicant’s misuse of our international institutions as a stage from which to attack the UAE.”